Quick poll for my friends

[OldTimer88]

Decided to take tomorrow off and deciding between Berkshire East and West. Never been to BEast and was looking forward to scoping a new mountain + driving my new truck a bit. West is really close and my home Mt. And I was hoping to do some scouting for other Indy resorts in 2022-2023 (Catamount doesn't look great right now). But the West $35 meal + two hour ticket can't be beat. What say you? Tia.

 

[MarzNC]

If you like driving on 2-lane roads, the drive to BEast is pretty. The terrain is more varied and interesting than West Mountain. If it's good driving weather, why not take advantage of the opportunity to check out a new mountain?

I skied two days at BEast last week and one at West. Both had plenty of trails open. I found that it took the second day to really understand how to get around from one section to another at BEast. It skis bigger than you might expect from the trail map.

 

[OldTimer88]

If you like driving on 2-lane roads, the drive to BEast is pretty. The terrain is more varied and interesting than West Mountain. If it's good driving weather, why not take advantage of the opportunity to check out a new mountain?

I skied two days at BEast last week and one at West. Both had plenty of trails open. I found that it took the second day to really understand how to get around from one section to another at BEast. It skis bigger than you might expect from the trail map.

Great comment. Thank you.

 

[not2brite]

I have the Summit Pass so been to both a bunch this year. Skip Catamount rest of this season. They need the offseason to finish up bunch of projects. Berkshire East midweek is hard to beat. The main face of the mountain has 5 trails. Big Chief (blue trail skiers far right) and Competition (single black first trail skiers left of the lift) see the most traffic by far. Top of Competition has a narrow drop in which tends to get icy due to the traffic but rest of the trail is very wide. Skiers left of that are 2 more single black trails Minnie Dole and Umass. A bit steeper than Comp, more narrow but lots of fun, and they see very little traffic even on weekends and I'm not sure why. Under the lift is Flying Cloud (single black) a narrow trail they let bump up on the right side. They have a couple of really fun meandering blue trails with some nice short steep drops, Mohawk and War Dance. Standard issue green trails around the boundary with some flat spots. Midweek they usually only run the main lift so if you go down Exhibition or anything skiers left of it (Hemlock is fun) your going to have to hike back to a working lift. Overall a real nice variety of terrain for a place that isn't that big. As far as getting there the 2 lane roads are nice but the Waze App sends me right thru the middle of Pittsfield which is a total nightmare, so I prefer 84E to 91N even though its 20 miles longer its the same amount of time and less hassle. If West is your home mountain I'll assume your somewhere in the Albany area so maybe consider 90E to 91N.

 

[OldTimer88]

BEast was awesome today. Skied pretty much all that was open except Lift Line as it was thin. I think Exhibition was my favorite run of the day - bombing down wide open, fast and uncrowded - could carve some really wide arcs and get some quick turns on the right. There was this compression at the end and I almost went a$$ over tea kettle into the Slow sign a few feet in the air. Only thing I'll say is that I'm not a fan of the drive from NY. Lots of logging trucks near the NY border and bad drivers around North Adams. The views were excellent on the Taconic trail or whatever it's called, but if you get car sick at all it can make you quesy. Great day though. Thanks for the input!

 

[MarzNC]

Glad you had a good time!

Only thing I'll say is that I'm not a fan of the drive from NY. Lots of logging trucks near the NY border and bad drivers around North Adams. The views were excellent on the Taconic trail or whatever it's called, but if you get car sick at all it can make you quesy.

Definitely not a good destination for anyone who gets carsick. Once you get to Pittsfield there is an alternate route that avoids Adams and North Adams completely. RT 8A going through Dalton has little traffic. Actually not as steep as RT 2. But if it has snowed recently, there is more snow left on the road first thing in the morning.

For my recent Indy ski safari, I was staying near Stockbridge. RT 7 to Pittsfield to RT 8A worked out well. The other times I've skied at Berkshire East I was staying at Jiminy Peak. Then RT 2 is the only way to go, but avoids Pittsfield.